Each book of the Bible reveals God's character to us in a unique way. As we look at Genesis, the book of beginnings, it stands to reason that we will discover vital information about God's nature and character. And first Impressions are often the most accurate.
It's our prayer that these materials, written by David Egner, will help you to know God more intimately by giving you glimpses of Him as first revealed in Genesis.
Martin R. De Haan II
CONTENTS
The Book of Beginnings
Genesis and the Other Books of Moses
Knowing God Through Genesis
Part 1: Four Events
1. The Creation
2. The Fall of Man
3. The Flood
4. The Tower of Babel
Part II: Four Men
1. Abraham
2. Isaac
3. Jacob
4. Joseph
Jesus Christ in Genesis
Genesis and You
THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS
Roots. They tell us about ourselves: where we've come from, what we're made of, and maybe even where we're going. Beginnings give us a sense of perspective, a standard of measuring, an awareness of the place and flow of our lives, a glimpse of our destiny. They give us clues to the answers of gnawing questions that take us back beyond our fathers, our grandfathers, and our ancestors to the beginning of time - even before.
That is one reason the book of Genesis is so very important. The first book of the Bible tells us how things began. It gives us our first recorded information about God, ourselves, and our world.
Not everyone, however, takes the book of Genesis seriously. Many reject its claim to be the God-inspired record of the beginning of the world and man.
* Some view it as a Jewish myth. They compare it to the Gilgamesh Epic or the Greek stories of Zeus. For them, Genesis is the Jewish legendary account of the beginning of man.
* Others interpret Genesis 1-3 as symbolic. They see Adam and Eve as symbols of the first man and woman, whoever they might have been.
* Still others see Genesis as a book of religious truth, but with no correspondence to reality. The concepts are valid, but there are no facts. These people say that there was no real Adam and Eve in history.
According to the witness of the Bible itself, however, the book of Genesis is the true account of what actually happened in the beginning. Jesus and the New Testament treated Adam, Eve, and Noah as real people who actually lived and did what the book of Genesis says they did.
Genesis, then, is of tremendous value to the inquisitive mind. It puts man in his cosmic setting, telling us how he began and how the world got its start. It shows man's uniqueness, how he is different from the animals and from his environment. It shows him how sin entered our world, bringing trouble, pain, suffering, and heartache to all.
It also tells us how salvation began. It tells us how the same God who took the initiative in creating us also took the initiative in providing for our rescue.
We might wish Genesis would also have told us how God began. Instead, it joins the rest of Scripture in treating Him as the One who had no beginning, the One who always was. In that sense, Genesis provides us with a first introduction to the One who is beyond our understanding.
And what better place to begin than with a knowledge of our own beginning in the mind and from the hands of the one, infinite, eternal, personal God?
GENESIS AND THE OTHER BOOKS OF MOSES
Genesis is the first of the five-book section at the beginning of the Old Testament known to the Jews as the Torah, the Law. These five books form the foundation for all that God has revealed to man.
Moses wrote the Pentateuch (penta means "five" and teuchos means "scroll"). Although this claim has been disputed, the evidence shows clearly that Moses is the author of the first five books of the Bible.
* Since the early days of history, the Jews have believed that Moses wrote the Torah.
* Because of his training in Pharaoh's court, Moses had the ability to write these five books.
* Christ and the New Testament writers saw Moses as a principal author of the Old Testament (Matt. 19:3-10; Luke 16:29; 24:27; 1 Cor. 9:9).
* Christ Himself claimed that Moses wrote about Him (Luke 24:27; John 5:46,47).
A brief walk through the five books of Moses will show where Genesis fits into the flow of God's master plan. It will also underscore the unity and sense of completeness that mark these five books, indicating a single author.
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings. The foundation of the entire Bible, Genesis is the record of God's early acts through four beginning events and four key men. It records the creation and fall of man, the flood, and the aborted project at Babel. It goes on to trace God's works among men as focused through four patriarchal leaders: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Exodus: The Book of Salvation. Exodus traces the deliverance of Israel (Abraham's offspring) from cruel oppression in Egypt. God raised up Moses to stand up to Pharaoh and unite the people. He led them out of Egypt and into the desert of Sinai, where he received the Law on Mount Sinai from the hand of God Himself.
Leviticus: The Book of Worship and Purification. It is God's detailed instruction for worship and sacrifice, for the priesthood, and for individual purity.
Numbers: The Book of Wanderings. The Israelites left Egypt with strong resolve, but their faith faltered. Numbers tells of the 40 years God made them wander in the desert until the faithless generation had died.
Deuteronomy: The Book of Review. This book looks back on Israel's experience before concluding with the farewell address of Moses. At their great leader's death, the Israelites were poised on the east bank of the Jordan River, ready for Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.
KNOWING GOD THROUGH GENESIS
One reason Alex Haley's book Roots and the subsequent television docu-drama were so popular is that we are all interested in beginnings. We want to know about our grandparents, how our parents met, and what the early days of our childhood were like.
We somehow feel that if we know about our beginnings, we will better understand the present and be able to cope with the future. It provides us an anchor that keeps us from feeling that we are adrift.
Genesis tells us about our beginnings. It gives us accurate information about the creation of earth, this spinning ball we call home. It tells us how stars and planets, sky and seas, plants and animals began. It holds the only accurate record of the first man and the first woman. It tells us about the beginning of sin and the first promise of spiritual rescue.
And, in a narrowing-down process, Genesis gives us the story of the first 300 years of the family of Abraham - that nation singled out by God to be the people through whom He would make Himself known to man, and through whom He would bring the blessing of salvation through a Messiah-Redeemer. This "book of beginnings" also tells us volumes about God - the One who had no beginning.
We will divide Genesis into two parts: Four Events (Gen. 1-11), and Four Men (Gen. 12-50). As we look at these four beginning events and four patriarchal leaders, we will focus on the insights they give us about knowing God.
PART I. FOUR EVENTS
Event 1 - Creation (Gen. 1,2)
The book of Genesis, and the entire Bible, begins with the words, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."1 Bible commentator William Hendriksen wrote, "Like a granite rock, this majestic sentence stands before us at the very dawn of human history." In the 10 brief words of this verse we are plunged with magnificent suddenness into our world of time and space.
The Bible traces the origin of all living creatures and things back to the living God. In the record of the creative process, the name God appears 32 times. According to the Bible, this God who created is a personal God - different from the idols of men.2 He said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."3 The New Testament makes it clear that God the Son took an active role in the creative process.4
How did God create? God created by His word. He literally spoke the land and seas, animals and plants, sun and stars into existence.5 He made all things out of nothing.6 An artist creates a picture, but he uses acrylics or oils. An engineer constructs a building, but it is made of glass, steel, and concrete. Just think of what that tells us about the power, wisdom, and glory of God. And how right it is for us to worship Him!
The creative process took place over 6 creative days and involved two phases: the forming of things and the filling of things. This was followed by a day of rest, of "ceasing."
What about man? The crown of creation was man. Often in the Bible, the most important part of a sequence is given special emphasis. The creation of man, introduced in Genesis 1, is explained in detail in chapter 2. Adam was formed out of the dust.7 Then, in answer to his aloneness, Eve was made from one of his ribs,8 and they were brought together in marriage.9
The Bible treats Adam and Eve as real people. To the Hebrew mind, this was not a mythological or symbolic representation. Adam and Eve were actual people who lived exactly as the Bible describes. Other Bible passages treat them as part of history, giving credence to the Genesis account.10
Adam was different from the rest of creation in that he was made in God's image.11 This distinguishes him from the animals. Because he was made in God's image, man has tremendous value. As persons, Adam and Eve were able to relate to God, a privilege denied the rest of creation. Personhood always involves responsibility. So Adam was given the task of caring for the wonderful garden paradise into which he and Eve were placed.
When the creative process was finished, all God had made was at peace. Adam and Eve were at peace with God. Almost forgotten was the tree of testing.12
Seeing God Through the Creation Story
* In the incomparable act of creation, we see the reality of an all-powerful God who is far beyond all comparisons or idols (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 10:1-16).
* In the supreme orderliness of our world, we see a God of immeasurable knowledge, reason, and consistency (Gen. 1:4-24).
* In the original goodness of creation, we see a God who is far above and apart from all of our imperfections, pollutions, and perversions (Gen. 1:10-31).
Seeing Ourselves Through the Creation Story
* In the amazing grandeur of the heavens, we see a reflection of how wonderfully we ourselves are made.
* In the bliss of Eden's paradise, we see an echo of the majesty and glory of the heavenly home that awaits us if we have trusted in God's Son.
* In the account of the creation of Eve, we are given a prototype for our own roles in the husband-wife relationship
Event 2: The Fall (Gen. 3-5)
Imagine what life must have been like in Eden Adam and Eve were living in perfect harmony with the animals. They had meaningful work. God came regularly to talk with them. And, in turn, Adam and Eve had the wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their love for Him by obeying the only prohibition He had given them. We are told: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:16,17).
Love demands a choice. The love of the creature toward the Creator, of man for God, was to be expressed in obedience. Love without choice is meaningless, so the opportunity was placed squarely before our first parents in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now, the tree itself was not evil. Nor was God evil in presenting man with a choice. Rather, it was the provision of a loving, all-wise God who knew that it was right to give man the opportunity to show his trust and his love through obedience. Besides, God clearly warned Adam of the consequences. The evil would come through man's deliberate choice to disobey the Lord.
The serpent. Suddenly, unexpectedly, trouble came into the garden paradise. The serpent, a creature "more cunning than any beast of the field,"1 approached Eve to tempt her into disobeying God's command. In his conversation with her, he (1) asked a question he already knew the answer to,2 (2) bluntly denied God's word,3 (3) accused God of having an unworthy motive,4 and (4) presented Eve with a deceptive half-truth.5
Satan spoke through the serpent to deceive Eve. God's archenemy had already chosen to exalt himself above God.6 He had desired to be like God, and his end would be the eternal abyss. Now Satan promised Eve that she would be like God.
Eve looked, wavered, and then decided. Reaching out her hand, she plucked the forbidden fruit and ate. In that brief moment, she chose to satisfy herself, to suppress her love for God, and to toss aside the wonderful relationship she had with Him. Then Eve offered the fruit to Adam and he ate. The terrible deed was done! In that single act, the entire human race fell.
Consequences. The immediate and most devastating result of Adam and Eve's choice was the entrance of sin into their world. Their moral purity was gone. They had sinned, and their sinful nature would be passed on to the entire human race.
With sin came the overwhelming reality of guilt. Our first parents expressed their guilt in three ways:
1. They scrambled to cover their nakedness.7
2. They vainly tried to hide from God.8
3. They blamed the other person for their wrong.9
God is righteous and He keeps His word, so He had to bring judgment. He did so in the following ways:
* The woman would have pain in childbirth, be dependent on her husband, and be under his rule.10
* The serpent was cursed by God and forced to crawl on the ground. Enmity was put between Eve and the serpent, and ultimately between his seed (the ungodly) and her seed (Jesus Christ). Finally, the serpent was told that even though he would bruise Christ's heel in death, Christ would bruise Satan's head in final defeat.11
* The man would have to work long and hard to provide for his physical needs.12 And after a lifetime of toil and hardship, he would die and his body would return to dust.13
The ground was cursed because of sin. It would produce certain plants that would make growing things much more difficult for Adam.
The consequence of the fall was illustrated dramatically in the first two sons born to Adam and Eve. Cain, the older, offered a sacrifice to God of fruit from his field. Abel, however, sacrificed a lamb from his flock. When Abel's sacrifice pleased God because of his faith,14 Cain was so furious that he killed his brother.15 Perhaps the worst of sins, murder, was committed by the first of Adam's race. Look at how quickly, how deeply, how disastrously man had fallen!
Yet there was hope. In these grim chapters we have three clear indications that man would someday be redeemed from his sin and guilt.
1. In the animals killed to clothe our first parents, we are given a picture of sacrifice for sin.16
2. The curse of Satan included a promise the seed of woman, though wounded by God's enemy, would succeed in overcoming him.17
3. A third child, Seth, was born to Adam and Eve.18
These are dark chapters. Man had started so high, so near the heart of God. But now he had fallen into trouble, disgrace, and confusion. He needed rescue.
Seeing God Through the Fall
* In giving Adam the freedom of choice and a tree of testing, we see a God who wants to be voluntarily loved and obeyed.
* In His conversing with Adam, we see a God who makes Himself known to His creatures.
* In the promise of victory over Satan through the seed of woman, we see the mercy and grace of a God who offers rescue to those who disobey Him.
Seeing Ourselves Through the Fall
* In Eve's tragic choice to disobey, we see our own glaring weakness when confronted by temptation.
* In our first parents' disobedience, we see our own driving desire to be the god of our own lives.
* In Adam's pointing the finger of blame at Eve and in her accusing the serpent, we see our habit of blaming someone else for our sins.
Event 3: The Flood (Gen. 6-9)
The human race was growing and spreading throughout the earth, but it became terribly wicked. Mankind was obsessed with evil,1 and the earth was filled with violence.2 Grieved,3 the Lord decided to destroy mankind along with all the animals.4 He would do so by sending a great flood.
One man, Noah, found favor with God, and he and his family would be spared. It appears that he alone remained faithful, for we are told that he "found grace in the eyes of the Lord." So God told him two astounding things: (1) "I will destroy man."5 (2) "Make yourself an ark."6 God Himself gave Noah the plans for the ark. It would be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It was a mammoth boat for a man to build with hand tools! Its total 3-deck capacity was 1,518,750 cubic feet of space.
Man of faith that he was, Noah did everything God commanded him.7 And it took real faith! Consider that apparently it had never rained.8 Consider too the folly of building an ark on dry land. It would be like building an ocean liner in the middle of a Nebraska cornfield because you heard that a flood was coming.9 And while Noah built, he preached - for 120 years!
Noah's faith did not end when the boat was completed. Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals entered the ark. The Lord Himself shut the door.10 And for 7 days, nothing happened.11 Even so, Noah stayed in the ark.
Finally the floods came. For 40 days the waters flowed from two sources: (1) as rain from the skies for the first time ever, and (2) in the unleashing of waters from the earth. All nonaquatic life outside the ark was destroyed. By the time it came to rest on Mount Ararat, only Noah's little family had survived.
After testing to see if it was safe to leave,12 Noah left the ark.13 He build an altar and offered sacrifices to the Lord.14 And God gave him a series of promises that we call the Noahic Covenant. Here are the specifics:
* God would never again destroy every living thing with a flood.15
* The seasons would not be interrupted.16
* A covenant was made with Noah, his descendants, and the animals.17
* It was an everlasting covenant.18
* The sign of God's promise never to destroy man again in this way would be a rainbow.19
Seeing God Through the Flood
* In God's grief over man's wickedness, we see the disappointment of a loving God who desires our best.
* In His destruction of the human race, we see the wrath of God poured out on disobedience.
* In the singling out of Noah for rescue, we see a sovereign God who cares for individuals.
* In the shimmering rainbow, we see an unending reminder that God keeps His word.
Seeing Ourselves Through the Flood
* In the unrestrained evil of the race, we see our own pattern of sin before God's grace transformed us.
* In the refusal of Noah's neighbors to heed his preaching, we see our own resistance to God's spokesmen for justice and truth.
* In the faith and obedience of Noah, we are given a model for our own relationship with the Lord.
* In the new beginning for mankind after leaving the ark, we see reflected our own opportunities to start afresh with God.
Event 4: Babel (Gen. 10,11) When the ark came to rest, mankind entered a new era. Here was a chance for a new beginning - to walk in God's pathway and experience His blessing. But once again that was not the case. These chapters tell an all too familiar story of degeneration and decline. Although the majority of these verses trace the beginning of nations (Gen. 10) and the line of Shem (Gen. 11), they include one significant event - the incident at Babel.
The entire human race descended from the sons of Noah.1 As they scattered from the ark, they migrated to the plain of Shinar (Babylonia), where they decided to make three things: a city, a tower, and a name for themselves.2 Their scheme to build a tower was wrong for two reasons: (1) it was an expression of pride ("let us make a name for ourselves"3), and (2) it was a violation of God's command to "fill the earth"4 ("lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth"5).
The tower itself was probably a Babylonian ziggurat, a staged or stepped temple tower. One climbed the tower by ladders that ascended from one stage to another - each stage dedicated to a different heavenly body and painted a different color. At the top was a temple to the god of the city and an altar where sacrifices were offered. These towers were often decorated with the symbols of astrology and used for the worship of planets, stars, and the zodiac.
Construction began. The people, directed by the priests, worked hard. And the tower rose higher into the heavens. But suddenly, in the midst of all their activity, God stopped their ambitious undertaking!6
God acted by separating mankind in two ways: (1) He made them speak different languages,7 and (2) He scattered them across the earth.8 They could no longer communicate freely. And the tower, once a proud symbol of man's ambition, was left to crumble in the dust.
The remainder of Genesis 11 traces the generations of Shem from Noah's day to Abraham. It is genealogical in purpose, not chronological. Therefore, a number of gaps appear in the lists, with only the important people being named. The record concludes by introducing Abraham, which takes us to the next phase in God's unfolding plan for the ages.
Seeing God Through the Tower of Babel Incident
* In His stopping the building of the tower at Babel, we see the jealousy of a God who insists that He alone be worshiped and obeyed.
* In His confusing of man's language, we see the wisdom of God in thwarting man's attempt to dethrone Him and worship false deities.
* In separating mankind by location and language, we see the judgment of God on a race that insisted on disregarding Him.
Seeing Ourselves Through the Tower of Babel Incident
* In the proud desire of man to build a name for himself, we see our own secret vanity.
* In his building of a tower to reach heaven, we see man's desire to reach God in his own way.
* In the effort to build a city, we see our lust for the power that comes through corporate control.
